Movie Night
by evilqueenmayor731
Summary: Ficlet for Outlaw Queen Week, day 4. Prompt is 'domesticity'. Total AU. Enjoy the adorbs!


Friday night had long been movie night in the Mills household. Regina and Henry agreed that just because their family had grown, the tradition should not change. So the first Friday after Robin and Roland moved in, they were introduced to the routine of dinner and a movie.

Henry spent all week carefully considering which movie they should watch. It had to be something appropriate for Roland, who had just reached the point where he could watch the television without trying to touch it or turn it around to figure out how it worked, but also entertaining for his mom and Robin. When the perfect choice occurred to him he knew he had to keep it a secret. It was too perfect to reveal ahead of time.

After dinner they all settled down in the living room to watch the movie. Henry had his own chair; Robin sat on the couch with his arm around Regina, Roland sitting half in his lap and half in hers. He practically bounced with anticipation.

"What are we watchin', papa? Is it more Cars?" He was terrified of real ones, but loved the movie about them. He'd seen it so many times that he could recite it from memory.

"I'm not sure. You'd have to ask Henry," Robin replied, his fingers idly playing with Regina's hair. He had a penchant for twirling it around his finger, especially since it had begun to get so long. He found it soothing. She found it mildly irksome, but also sweet, and so she allowed it.

"Henwy? We watchin' Cars?" Roland asked, sincerely hoping the answer was yes. He was oblivious to the fact that everyone else wanted the answer to be 'no'.

"Nope, something even better. I used to watch it all the time when I was a kid." Regina chuckled and caught Robin's eye. To everyone - except Roland, perhaps - he still WAS a kid.

"When you were a kid? And what are you now?" Regina asked. Henry rolled his eyes.

"Fine. When I was a little kid," he said as he put the DVD into the player. Regina tried to think of what movie he could be referring to, and found it hard to pinpoint just one. Henry had gone through movies like candy when he was young. He'd find one that he liked and insist on watching it every single day, until finally he'd turn to her and say 'done', and never ask for it again. Sometimes it took a week, sometimes as long as a month, but eventually he'd be done, and never ask to see it again.

Henry plopped down in his chair and turned on the tv, then hit play on the movie. The Disney logo came on the screen and then the music started. Regina recognized it instantly.

"Henry, you didn't," she said, reproval in her voice but admiration for the idea hidden inside her head. The temptation to wait and see how Robin would react was impossible to resist. She made no move to turn it off.

"What? I thought it'd be funny," he said, and she couldn't deny that it was. The title screen appeared, and Robin began to laugh.

"What's it say, papa?" Roland asked. He hated that he couldn't read things yet, and that everyone else seemed to understand what was going on. On the screen an animated forest came into view.

"It would appear, my boy, that this particular movie is about me," he replied. Roland's eyes grew wide. He was even more excited than before. A few minutes later, though, he was confused.

"But papa... those are animals," he said, pointing at the screen.

"Indeed they are. I suppose my reputation for being foxy reached all the way to this land," he said with his trademark crooked grin. Both Regina and Henry laughed.

"Maybe there was just a story that you'd lived in the forest for so long that you'd grown a tail," she retorted, making Roland giggle.

"Papa's got a tail! Papa's got a tail!" he sang, joining into the roomful of laughter.

As each character was revealed, Robin and Roland laughed harder. When it was finally revealed that the narrator, Alan-a-Dale, was a chicken, Robin pleaded with Henry to turn it off. He had tears streaming down his face and he was clutching his stomach as if it were about to rupture. He could hardly breathe for laughing. He'd never be able to look at Little John again without picturing a pot-bellied bear.


End file.
